Bhutan Celebrates Earth Hour, 2015

“What God has made, man cannot remake”, said Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, Special Advisor to the National Environment Commission (NEC) in his keynote address to student volunteers during inauguration and tree plantation of Bhutan’s first Earth Hour Garden.

He added, Bhutan is in a phase where economic and infrastructural development is at its peak like any other third country. However, Bhutan has been able to find a balance between economic development and conservation through its policy of Gross National Happiness that emphasizes the need to keep the natural environment intact.

D.S Rai, the Chief Forestry Officer of the Nature Recreation and Ecotourism Division (NRED) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests said that planting trees was the most appropriate initiative to fit the Earth Hour theme of 60+.

“This plantation perfectly highlights the need to go beyond the hour to achieve long term impacts,” he said.
“I am so excited to be a part of this global event as this is my first time participating in a campaign,” said 14-year old Bachu Pema Norby, 10th grade student of Zilukha Middle Secondary School in Thimphu (Bhutan’s Capital City).

Kinley Wangmo, 15, another youth volunteer from the same school said, “Bhutan has always been known for being one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world and the fact that we are able to highlight this on a global platform such as the Earth Hour makes me very proud.”
The school will now adopt the plantation site so that it is monitored frequently to make the Earth Hour Garden a success.

According to the school’s coordinator for the Nature Club, “Students are required to plant and adopt a tree every year because of which the 2015 Earth Hour fits in to the school’s Nature Club program, well.

Second from left: Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, the Special Advisor to the National Environment Commission inaugurates the Earth Hour Garden.